To Arabella’s further gratitude, Roslyn and Lily didn’t press her to explain her change of heart. They simply remained close to her all day and refused to leave her alone in Marcus’s company.
She was wise to keep away from him, Arabella tried to convince herself as she and her sisters set out together for afternoon classes at the academy. She didn’t trust herself to be with Marcus and keep her emotions uninvolved. She had even less faith that she could resist her growing desire for him.
Roslyn and Lily would help save her from herself.
It was better this way, Arabella knew, even though she didn’t have to like it.
Marcus admittedly did not like the lack of privacy or having his two youngest wards present to interfere with his courtship of their sister. Nor was he overjoyed when Lilian and Roslyn confronted him in his study shortly after they returned from the academy.
“Arabella has gone upstairs to change for dinner,” Lily said gravely upon entering, “but we wished a word with you, your lordship.”
Following behind her, Roslyn added more politely but just as seriously, “If you could spare a moment of your time, my lord?”
Setting down his quill pen, Marcus rose from behind his desk and offered them seats near the tall windows. “For my lovely wards, I will make the time.”
Though grimacing at his flattery, Lily settled in a wing chair as if forcing herself to behave with proper decorum. Yet she came straight to the point. “We think it best if you stop wooing Arabella, Lord Danvers.”
Marcus leveled a curious gaze at his youngest ward as he sat on the sofa across from her. “I collect you mean to tell me why?”
“Because you are too beguiling. You are likely to make Arabella forsake all her good sense. We don’t want to see her hurt again by a fickle suitor.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I am hardly fickle. I have every intention of marrying your sister.”
“But you would not make her a good husband.”
Willing himself to patience, Marcus leaned back against the sofa. “So you believe you can judge my qualifications as a husband?”
“You don’t love her, my lord.” Lily leaned forward in her chair, her dark eyes bright with the glisten of frustration, her expression intent with worry. “Arabella has always been too tenderhearted. Her last betrothed humiliated her and left her heartbroken, and we won’t let it happen again. She has been hurt enough.”
Lily’s distress was obviously heartfelt, Marcus realized.
Roslyn’s voice held the same troubled note when she chimed in. “It was very hard for Arabella when her betrothed repudiated her, especially after losing both our parents and our home and having to face the public scorn that resulted.”
“From all accounts,” Marcus responded, “her betrothed abandoned her at the first test. I am made of stronger stuff.”
“Do you love her?” Roslyn asked quietly. “If not now, then could you ever come to love her?”
The question took him aback. Roslyn was eyeing him with her perceptive gaze, which made him feel as if she could see deep inside his mind. But he couldn’t reply to her discomfiting question when he himself didn’t know the answer.
He had strong feelings for Arabella, certainly. When she wasn’t with him, he missed her. And at the prospect of seeing her again, his heart began racing with anticipation. She roused a passion in him that he hadn’t felt in years, perhaps never.
But just because he wanted Arabella-and wanted to be with her-didn’t mean he would ever feel the romantic love he presumed Roslyn was speaking of.
“I think,” Marcus finally said, “that my feelings for your sister should remain private between us.”
Roslyn inclined her head in acknowledgment. “Perhaps. But we do not want to see Arabella hurt again.”
“I assure you, the last thing I want to do is hurt her.”
“But you cannot promise that you won’t.”
In all truth, he couldn’t make any such promise, Marcus reflected soberly, but he would try his damnedest. “I can promise you that if I wed your sister, our marriage will be nothing whatsoever like your parents’.”
Evidently Lily wasn’t satisfied. “If you make Arabella fall in love with you, you will break her heart. We won’t let you hurt her the way Viscount Underwood did.”
“There is no chance of that,” he replied with all sincerity.
“How can we be certain?” Lily demanded.